“Don’t need to shake my arse for you, ‘cos I’ve got a brain” ~ Lily Allen, Hard Out Here

As this is my first blog on Music Vids, I thought I’d start with an fun and controversial clip. Lily Allen’s, Hard Out Here is one slick production that manages to be sexy, funny, satirical, cheeky (literally) glamorous and relevant all in a 4 min 23 second breath.

Idolator describes the clip this way: Allen has always been one of the few pop stars who’s capable of solid social satire without compromising her songcraft, and “Hard Out Here” doesn’t disappoint to that end: It’s a withering takedown of body image pressures and misogyny in the entertainment industry, making its point flawlessly with just a few choice lines and images. “Hard Out Here” is self-conscious and self-deprecating but stops just short of being caustic, built around an earworm of a chorus hook with typically smart, funny lyrics in the verses.

The controversy surrounding it was all tied up in cries of “racism” (because of the ethnicity of most of the back up dancers) and “class-ism”. But I’m not venturing into that miasma of opinion because I don’t for a moment believe that was either the intention or the outcome of the music video.

Lily Allen followed up the release with a statement to that effect: “If anyone thinks for a second that I requested specific ethnicities for the video, they’re wrong… If anyone thinks that after asking the girls to audition, I was going to send any of them away because of the colour of their skin, they’re wrong.The message is clear. Whilst I don’t want to offend anyone. I do strive to provoke thought and conversation. The video is meant to be a light-hearted satirical video that deals with objectification of women within modern pop culture. It has nothing to do with race, at all.”

Maybe I under-think everything, but personally, I thought the clip was both extremely clever and entertaining.The cry that Lily Allen has saved pop music, might be just a headline grab, but I do believe she’s at least having a damn good go at it, and I enjoyed the song a lot more than Pink’s Stupid Girls, which was in the same ball park–though even more blunt.

The Washington Posts’s rather snide closing remark in their review, “Allen is righteously targeting the patriarchal double standards of 21st-century celebrity culture, but issues of race and class get tangled in the crossfire…The video for “Hard Out Here” drives that critique home with Allen scrubbing a sparkly hubcap in a kitchen sink and dancing alongside a fleet of jiggly twerkers. But as the blogeratti prepare 1,000 think pieces, give the video the close-your-eyes test. You’ll hear a singer trying to spark a worthy discussion through a clumsy and bland pop song” kinda reeks of journalistic patriarchy and/or music snobbery.

Go get ’em Lily, I say!

Here is the video. Director — Christopher Sweeney (also directed Lana Del Rey’s, Young and Beautiful) Producer — Amalia Rosen-Rawlings Pro. Co. — Good Egg:

Followed by the making of the video where you get Lily UNCUT and bare-faced:

Followed by a round table discussion on Pop Trigger

You make up your own mind!

I find writing the year in review is a bit like a meditation, so I hope it doesn’t bore you too much while I relfect and wonder.

Professionally, this has been the year of me regrouping and seeking renewed enthusiasm to write. By the middle of 2012, I was burned out and finding my writing and the industry in a head-bashing and brick wall relationship. I stepped into this year with a fresh perspective and thought far less about selling books and far more about writing them. When Angry Robot made an offer on PEACEMAKER I was thrilled to be finally writing the book I’d long been itching to complete (but kept being told wasn’t commercial enough). WIN!

I did some writing teaching, judging competitions and took a bit of time putting in a PHD application to Curtin Uni. The workshops kept a little bit of cash coming in (thank you Redlands Council), and the PHD app was only partially successful – I got in but didn’t get the living allowance scholarship. I’m forced to make some new choices for the future now and I’m taking the Christmas break to consider what they might be. Partial WIN!

In an attempt to supplement this year’s meagre income, I launched my own social media consulting business which has been a bit of a financial failure. The reality is that no one in the writing industy wants to pay for anything. In fact, I spent some time looking for freeleance web content work, and almost 90% of the jobs advertised were voluntary/interns positions. Writing is very devalued. No WIN.

The end of the writing year had some highlights though. The cover for Peacemaker turned out to be sensational (IMHO), and my first children’s picture book was released – see SERIOUS SAS and MESSY MAGDA. Both these events were golden moments in the year for me. WIN.

Personally, I began coaching a junior girls basketball team. I’ve long put off coaching sport for many reasons, but the time finally felt right. It’s been one of the most stimulating and enjoyable projects I’ve embarked on in a very long time. Great team, great parents, great manager and co-coaches.

I’ve also connected with Lauren Galley from Girls Above Society. Lauren is an extraordinary young woman who it is well worth your time getting to know. WIN. WIN. WIN. WIN.

I could spend hours talking about my family but I won’t! Suffice to say they are all well and getting about their lives, leaving me to enter the next stage of mine. I’m working through the desolation of empty nest and thinking about the future. Long term WIN; short term sadness.

2013 in Entertainment is better summed up but the Guardian than me, so check this out.

On the world stage, we lost Nelson Mandela but Obama is still president and gay activism reached an all time high. On the down side, there was way too much talk about Miley! I’ve found it fascinating how social media allows us to obsess on a subject/object for a very short hyperreal moment or two before we’re hauled inexorably onto the next thing. How we think is most definitely being shaped by how we communicate.

The Escape Club website continues to be a labour of love, putting together fun content for teens and young at hearts, and I want to publically thank my team – Bel, Mandy, Joelene, Krista, Lisa, Jamie, Bec, Diana, Amy, Chris and Phil for everything they do. Without them my life wouldn’t be nearly as rich or as much fun! Next year I hope to be welcoming Kylie back to the bunch.

On this website, I’ve blogged mainly about the TV series I’m enjoying, but next year I will extend that to include reviews of music videos as well. MDP On MusicVids.

So, in closing, I just want to say thank you to those of you who actually read this blog and especially those who comment. You gotta know that a hello from any of you always makes my day! 

I’m leaving you with some music – love the energy and honesty in this remix. There is so much talent in this world!

Merry Christmas!

Marianne xx

Reviewed by Jamie Marriage

Life between the ice ages is a desperate battle for survival. While a tribe may feast in summer, it may also starve through the vicious winter months. For shaman in training, Loon, starvation is only one of the hardships.

Taken on as an apprentice shaman when his father (originally chosen to be the next in line) dies, Loon is brought up by Thorn, the clan’s resident shaman and storyteller, and the crone-like medicine woman, Heather. And while both care for the boy they each have very different expectations as to whose footsteps he should follow.

Beginning during his First Shaman’s Wander (a coming of age for a young shaman), Loon is forced into the cold winter naked and alone, fighting harder to survive the freezing snow, aggressive animals and worse, than ever before. Much to Thorn’s aggravation and Heather’s amusement, Loon’s near-death experiences leave him with a fire in his heart to fight against the Shaman way of life.

It’s not until, however, the yearly festival of the Eight-Eight that Loon truly defies his upbringing by taking a wife from another tribe. Life is far from easy after their blissful union though. Loon is in a constant state of struggle between the wishes of his tribe, his own desires, and the brutal outsiders who believe Loon’s wife to be their property.

Shaman is told from the curious perspective of the Third Wind; a spiritual force that comes only to those in great need, to push them through the pain. Its tone is direct and emotionless, but far from detracting from the story this deadpan voice emphasises the brutality of the world and in turn makes the happy moments that much more prominent. In suffering there is always hope.

The  writing style is direct and harsh. There are no spare words; the settings are described just enough to fill your mind with images but not enough to overcomplicate, and language is short and tribal. This is a very utilitarian novel; like the animals hunted by the tribe, nothing goes to waste.

Shaman is a story about the passing down of knowledge, the wisdom of the tribe, and how culture changes from one generation to the next. As the experiences of each character shapes them, so in turn do the stories of the tribe change and flow. There are lessons to be learned from this novel. Seasons change, people change, stories change. And stories are often the most important thing of all.